page_title: Rambhadracharya
section_title: Schooling
hierarchical_section_title: Rambhadracharya / Formal education / Schooling
caption_attribution_description: English: A young Giridhara Miśra (now known as Jagadguru Rambhadracharya) in an undated photo हिन्दी: एक अज्ञातकालीन चित्र में युवा गिरिधर मिश्र (वर्तमान जगद्गुरु रामभद्राचार्य)
context_page_description: Jagadguru Ramanandacharya Swami Rambhadracharya is an Indian Hindu spiritual leader, educator, Sanskrit scholar, polyglot, poet, author, textual commentator, philosopher, composer, singer, playwright and Katha artist based in Chitrakoot, India. He is one of four incumbent Jagadguru Ramanandacharya, and has held this title since 1988.
  Rambhadracharya is the founder and head of Tulsi Peeth, a religious and social service institution in Chitrakoot named after Saint Tulsidas. He is the founder and lifelong chancellor of the Jagadguru Rambhadracharya Handicapped University in Chitrakoot, which offers graduate and postgraduate courses exclusively to four types of disabled students. Rambhadracharya has been blind since the age of two months, had no formal education till the age of seventeen years, and has never used Braille or any other aid to learn or compose.
  Rambhadracharya can speak 22 languages and is a spontaneous poet and writer in Sanskrit, Hindi, Awadhi, Maithili, and several other languages.
context_section_description: Although Giridhar did not have any formal schooling till the age of seventeen years, he had learned many literary works as a child by listening to them. His family wished him to become a Kathavachak (a Katha artist) but Giridhar wanted to pursue his studies. His father explored possibilities for his education in Varanasi and thought of sending him to a special school for blind students. Giridhar's mother refused to send him there, saying that blind children were not treated well at the school. On 7 July 1967 Giridhar joined the Adarsh Gaurishankar Sanskrit College in the nearby Sujanganj village of Jaunpur to study Sanskrit Vyakarana (grammar), Hindi, English, Maths, History, and Geography. In his autobiography he recalls this day as the day when the "Golden Journey" of his life began. With an ability to memorise material by listening to it just once, Giridhar has not used Braille or other aids to study. In three months, he had memorised and mastered the entire Laghusiddhāntakaumudī of Varadaraja. He was top of his class for four years, and passed the Uttara Madhyama (higher secondary) examination in Sanskrit with first class and distinction.
  First Sanskrit composition
  At the Adarsh Gaurishankar Sanskrit College, Giridhar learnt the eight Ganas of Sanskrit prosody while studying Chandaprabhā, a work on Sanskrit prosody. The next day, he composed his first Sanskrit verse, in the Bhujaṅgaprayāta metre.
caption: A young Giridhar Mishra in an undated photo
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